MAD WORLD - sloppy presentation on DVD (1 Viewer)

[John Morgan]

Well, being one who desperately wanted MAD WORLD as complete as possible on DVD and knowing this new DVD was not that version, I bought it anyway.
The sound is very good and the video picture has the clarity
we come to expect from DVD.
However....
It's starts out with that loud stereo MGM lion and skips the Academy nominated song (The Overture) and the credits start!
Oddly, the intermission and exit music is intact, but where in hell is the Overture. Like the above mentioned music, this was never cut when the shortened print played in 70 mm.
Did MGM just screw up and miss this? I can't believe the sloppiness in this presentation.
I hope the rumors of a true restoration in a few years are true.

 

[Jon Robertson]

I can only shake my head...

 

[Patrick McCart]

I WAS going to get this DVD...hoping for a North By Northwest-esque presentation...
Sorry, MGM. I'll buy this DVD when you pay to get it PROPERLY restored.
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P.S.: There's no P.S.

 

[John Morgan]

I just got through looking at the almost 60 minutes of extra footage and was hoping the OVERTURE would be there someplace!!It wasn't!!!
Anyway, maybe someone with more knowledge could answer this query more definitely.
The claim is made all the extra footage is from a 70mm work print. Well, certainly the silent footage could be. I will even concede that some of the sound footage is from work print, but I just don't believe the sequences that are stereo, with dialogue and foley effects and music cues not heard in other portions of the film are from a work print.
I surmise that these bits were taken from an actual 70mm release print. I have been told that all the long prints were actually recalled and the additional cutting was done on each and every print so they wouldn't have to strike so many new prints from the cut negative. My guess is perhaps the editors who were cutting down these release prints may have missed a couple of scenes they were to cut, or just got lazy. And one of these original 70mm prints showed up without all the cuts.
Does this make sense?

 

[Stephen L]

You guys really bummed me out.I've been counting the days for this release but now I very much doubt that I'll be picking this up.Dag nabbit why couldn't they do it right.

 

[Randy_M]

My copy's on its way, and I plan on thoroughly enjoying it. If I have to buy it again, so be it, but I will not be denied this time, either!
I'll laugh for all you other folks, too.

 

[David Illingworth II]

Good Lordy people! MGM is putting this movie out with perhaps the best presentation it has ever enjoyed on video, along with a documentary and an hour worth of deleted scenes for the fans and collectors, all so you can enjoy it right NOW, while you wait for the "maybe" expensive restoration project which will take at least a year, AND they do it for a rock-bottom price.
Give me something instead of nothing anyday, especially when you're going to charge a low low price for it. Thank you, MGM!

 

[Dick]

Ron - what are"reviewer's privileges?" Why would they be revoked just because you speak your mind? Isn't that what a reviewer is SUPPOSED to do?

 

[Dave Barth]

That act alone speaks volumes.
MGM remains very inconsistent, e.g. Terminator fans: elated. Mad (x4) World fans: distraught.
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[Moe Dickstein]

I'm interested to know what the substance of the 60 minutes of deleted scenes are from someone that has the old laser box set as well
are there things we havent seen yet included here?
or is it just things that were in the film for the laser, but now presented as supplement. I dont rememberthere being a whole hour worth of cut things inserted back for the laser...

 

[Rob W]

There are other scenes that were not in the longer laser version although I haven't gone through them all yet. Some of them are silent, presumably from the work print, so they couldn't have been incorporated into the longer cut. Some of the scenes show up in two different takes but are essentially the same scene.
Aside from the long / short cut debate, I have to say the film looks wonderful in this latest version.

 

[Dave-A]

MGM is putting this movie out with perhaps the best presentation it has ever enjoyed on video, along with a documentary and an hour worth of deleted scenes for the fans and collectors, all so you can enjoy it right NOW, while you wait for the "maybe" expensive restoration project which will take at least a year, AND they do it for a rock-bottom price. Give me something instead of nothing anyday, especially when you're going to charge a low low price for it. Thank you, MGM!

I agree. I'm not going to pass-up a $10-$15 DVD of a great film just because it's not the "Ultimate" release. I don't see any reason why studios should only release a film on DVD once. As long as the video/audio quality is good and it's OAR, I'm going to enjoy it. And if a better edition is going to be released sometime in the future, I'll look forward to that also.

 

[David Lambert]

quote: As long as the video/audio quality is good and it's OAR[/quote]
Question: Why do you want "OAR"? Answer: To "see the movie the way it was presented in the theatre"
I've said it before and I'll say it again: What we REALLY mean when say we want "OAR" is that we really want "OTR"...Original THEATRICAL Presentation. This isn't just the aspect ratio. It's the entire cut of the film, it's dialogue, the music soundtrack, etc. EVERYTHING.
All Ronald is asking for is that MGM present It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World in it's OTR. He's steadfastly said that the DVD for this film that he will purchase is the "Roadshow" version, when it has been restored and is on DVD in the form he first saw it in theatres. And he's decided not to purchase it until it's available that way, the same way 12,000 people (as vocal, and sometimes more vocal than Ronald has been on IaMMMMW) decided to wait on Willie Wonka until it it available in it's OTR.
If you choose to buy IaMMMMW this week anyway, then that's YOUR perogative. We can all agree to disagree on this subject.
But what I can't believe is that MGM would take away his screener's over this issue. Ronald, what reason did they formally give you? Or did they give you one?
Personally, I was iffy on this edition of the film anyway, and so this thread has been the final straw. I'll wait; I have plenty to watch in the meantime.
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DAVE/Memphis

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/...ocs/000565.htm
[Edited last by David Lambert on September 16, 2001 at 06:33 AM]

 

[John Morgan]

Technically, this DVD is a new version, unfortunately!
First, there was the Roadshow 70mm version. It played a short time in a few theaters.
Next was a shorter Roadshow 70mm version that ran 164 minutes including the Overture, Intermission and Exit Music.
Next was the above version, minus the three music interludes and stereo sound for 35mm presentation at neighborhood theaters. This version ran 154 minutes. Knowing beforehand that this film would eventually go into normal 35mm wide release, composer Ernest Gold wrote an alternate ending to the last cue going into the intermission, eliminating STEP INTO THE LOBBY lyrics and writing a transition to the first scene after the intermission.
BUT the DVD gives us a brand new version of 161 minutes...by eliminating only the Overture in those music only sections.

 

[Gavin K]

Presmably, if a complete restoration is done, the final product will be superior to the Laserdisc SE version that MGM previously put out. So if they want to put out an interim vesion in the mean time until a full restoration can occur, why not port the laserdisc version? This is my frustration with MGM.
Are they no longer proud of the laser version? Do they feel that was incorrect for some reason? I understand it takes time to restore a film, or create new supplements for a full-blown SE, but when they have the rights to a nice SE that was already complete why revert back? This is similar to Escape From New York. MGM had the rights to the Laser SE and all of its supplements, but decided to release a barebones edition instead. The first question in their last chat here was in regards to escape and they promised a new SE in early 02. Hopefully they'll keep some of the supplements from the LD.
If MGM can put the overture on its butchered 166.1 P&S VHS release will someone explain to me why they can't include it on the DVD? This seems like a case of instead of trying to placate fans until an SE is released, MGM is taking advantage of the fans by releasing a butchered version with minimum effort on their part.

 

[Randy_M]

quote:
_________________________________
I've said it before and I'll say it again: What we REALLY mean when say we want "OAR" is that we really want "OTR"...Original THEATRICAL Presentation. This isn't just the aspect ratio. It's the entire cut of the film, it's dialogue, the music soundtrack, etc. EVERYTHING.
_________________________________
David,
Would you consider Vertigo to be OTR? Since some or all of the foley information was lost, they had to re-do it in the restoration...my point is that sometimes the OTR just doesn't exist anymore. Then what do we do?

 

[David Lambert]

Randy_M, I see where you are going with that, however Vertigo isn't a good example. I could never get into that film, and so don't own it.
I have over 800 other titles you can try to use as an example, though!...

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DAVE/Memphis

Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.
Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.
Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/...ocs/000565.htm

 

[Seth Paxton]

I think you guys are being a bit too hard on the situation. Not that this version is perfect, nor that everyone should be satisfied with it.
But the average consumer needs to understand that the complaints for this disc are more subtle than even an open-matte issue. They are VALID complaints, but we should have a variable scale of outrage I think.
We should be able to say to the studios, "warmer" "cooler" "hot" "cold" as they get closer or farther from a "good" effort. This as opposed to the Yes or No approach.
So IMMMMW needs improvement, just like LoA or Ben-Hur apparently "suck", but there are far worse tragedies occuring in the DVD world.
At least we have it anamorphic with a 2.55 and the intermission music. We should press on for the other improvements, but we should also acknowledge that some of the formally unacceptable terms have been addressed.
Certainly a 1.85 non-anamorphic would be far more tragic than this DVD.
As a casual fan I found the DVD to be a rewarding viewing, but I am NOT the fan that Ron is and I can understand why he would want MORE. It's just that this DVD isn't so horrifyingly ruined as to warrant no one to even bother either.
I thought it looked and sounded pretty good. And in keeping with OTP, I went to the "lobby" to get another drink during intermission.

 

[bill lopez]

That's for an honest review Ron!
I'm still mad at over the great reviews Close Encounters dvd got from some websites.

 

[cafink]

I'm still mad at over the great reviews Close Encounters dvd got from some websites.

What didn't you like about the "Close Encounters" DVD?